Oh Comet, Come Down!
by EmpressHimiko
Summary: "Do you not recognize a captain when you see one?" the other said in his deep voice, "I shall have to speak with your superiors when we return to Soul Society, who is your captain?" - - - This is sort of an AU where Ichigo's [and his friend's] powers grow without Rukia's direct intervention.
Fandom: Bleach, Alternate Universe?

Title: Oh Comet, Come Down!

Pairing/Characters: Possibly Byakuya/Ichigo, but nothing here to really suggest it

Summary: "Do you not recognize a captain when you see one?" the other said in his deep voice, "I shall have to speak with your superiors when we return to Soul Society, who is your captain?"

This is sort of an AU where Ichigo's [and his friend's] powers grow without Rukia's direct intervention, I've only written the very first part and I'm not sure I'll continue it unless people express an interest but you're free to imagine and suggest how it may play out after this. Since Rukia is out of the picture at first and Urahara and co. only vaguely explain Shinigami shit (mostly because they want to see what weird stuff the Karakura kids come up with) we see things like the Karakura crew assuming shinigami kill spirits.

Length: About 800 words

Rating: General/K

As always, I love comments/likes/reblogs! It's been a long while since I've written and I'm pretty busy with uni right now, but I'd love to add to these things when I have time! 3 Thank you for reading!

 _My captain on a snowy horse  
Is coming back to take me home,  
He'll find me fighting back a terrible force  
'Cause I'm not afraid to die alone!_ _Oh comet, come down!  
Kamikaze over me  
And I come alive  
My midnight melody_

-Kamikaze - Owl City

His eyes twitched in the darkness and he felt the presence dutifully move further north, in a closed grid pattern, going through one street then another.

He growled at the fear beginning to creep up into his mind, crushing it with vengeful anger and he silently sailed down from his perch, landing quietly on his feet as he had seen that damn cat-woman doing. He tried to arrange his face into something more intimidating, hefting his sword a bit higher on his back, and he ran north, mentally trying to picture where they would intercept, and just which spirits might be there.

He lagged a bit, hoping to have the entity and therefore their fight, run past a small girl that resided there, but the other paused, and her spirit ribbon disappeared.

A small gasp left his lips as the entity consumed her soul, and he ran faster, nothing hindering him from using flash step.

He was surprised by what he saw.

Instead of one of those masked creatures, he saw another spirit garbed like himself, with a long white coat covering most of his torso, his broad back moving sinuously in the darkness. But, without ado, he snuck up quietly, masking himself carefully to leave no trace of his power, and was able to slam the spirit, this shinigami, on a wall, sliding his sword under his neck like past battles of samurai.

He had long, beautiful, ink black hair, with heavy white clips, and Ichigo could feel muscles under the-

But soon, the positions were flipped, and he was upon the ground with an elegant sword resting softly on his neck.

"Do you not recognize a captain when you see one?" the other said in his deep voice, "I shall have to speak with your superiors when we return to Soul Society, who is your captain?"

Ichigo said nothing, hoping to think of a way to turn the tables again in this fight- the other did not deem him a threat. But he tried to relieve the grimace from his face and instead attempt an abashed face proper of a caught subordinate.

The blade pressed harder, the edge blunted by the angle he held it at but the firm grip of the swordsman betrayed he was in the hands of a warrior, "I will not tolerate insubordination," he said, still with that composed voice of his, "Just who are you to think you may attack Captain Kuchiki?"

Kuchiki, dimly, that rang a bell, perhaps it was one of the names that Yoruichi had mentioned.

 _I'm not afraid to die alone_ , he thought, quiet even in his mind, Orihime, Chad, and Uryuu were all depending on him to get rid of these Shinigami that were killing spirits, _but if I die now, it means nothing_.

He gritted his teeth, "I'm sorry, Kuchiki-taichou-dono," he said with all the respect he could muster, "Things have been odd with that Urahara out there," he dropped the name of the crazy shop keep, knowing fully well he too was from that world.

The elder stepped back, yanking the other up by his collar, and studied him carefully.

"I understand they had a man minding here," he paused, again, his eyes roving over the ruffled Ichigo, whom tried to pull on a respectful mask, but it was obvious to both of them he lacked any sort of military discipline "but I did not think he would lack even decency."

Ichigo bit his tongue, and it was that action that made the stoic captain decide to instill martial restraint within that lithe body, perhaps he would be a decent division member; so long he was not already enlisted in the barbaric tenth division…

"I'll be leaving in the morrow, I expect you to leave with me, the relief squad will trade," Byakuya said, brooking no chance for interruption from the uniformed man before him, "I'll be making personal rounds, I have already finished the eastern half of this town and preformed konso on quite a few souls," he pursed his lips, and there was the silent _you have failed in your tasks_ , "I expect to receive a copy of your reports in two days, leave them with Abarai-fukutaichou."

Yes, he intended to put this unseated man in his place, he'd find out whom his taichou was and-

"Kuchiki-taichou-dono," he said, bowing low at the waist, "I'll make my own rounds and meet you in the morning." With that, Ichigo and the shinigami left each other to finish their patrols.

* * *

Early the next day, perhaps just after dawn, Byakuya Kuchiki arrived at the open plaza where shinigami usually met in order to enter the spirit realm, but the younger man was not there.

He waited, all morning, until the original time was close, and came.

Then, a tall, flustered, and confused shinigami showed up.

He was definitely not the boy.

Definitely.

When asked if there was another shinigami in the area, he answered in the negative, but did concede there were weird and odd happenings around this town that suggested Karakura was perhaps more unusual then they had thought.

The two of them proceeded through the gate and when Byakuya returned to the sixth's squad division, he promised himself he would personally hunt down that boy and show him what the Kuchiki name meant.

 **As always, please review! As or right now, this story is what it is. If people show an interest in this, I am much more likely to write more!**

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE ALL THE STUFF I AM WORKING ON, CHECK OUT MY TUMBLR [fadedempire . tumblr . com] I will be posting chapters, drabbles, head canons, and general thought there. While I hope to update some stuff and post a story or two I'm working on, lots of what will be on my tumblr will be things that are in-progress. I'm sort of hoping that posting it there will a. get me some feedback and b. help me finish them because people like them.

 **Would you like to beta-read some of my stuff and help me sort out my thoughts? Would you like to suggest/debate different ways for these stories to go? just want to say hello? Send me a message!**


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